Meditation Chamber

A mournful whooshing of wind pressure came from the direction of the academy before him.

Dago stopped and looked over with the many numb-faced people on the street.

Amid the snow-covered peaks of Ainak Wizard Academy, three small Silver-Pattern Airships, twenty to thirty meters long and resembling sailing ships, rose into the sky through the vast drifting snow.

"It seems the academy has been deploying airships more and more frequently lately. Has the situation changed again?"

Dago stared at the departing airships beneath the falling snow, his eyes flickering as he silently pondered.

After watching for a moment, he continued onward and entered the Wizard Hall.

The Wizard Hall was rather empty at the moment. Only a scattered few wandering apprentice wizards were handling their affairs. These past few days, most academy wizards whose identities had been verified had chosen to return to the academy.

Dago did not intend to return to the academy just yet. Vissel would surely cause trouble for him behind the scenes. Rather than get entangled in trouble, he might as well let Vissel enjoy himself for a while.

He went to the Third-Level Apprentice counter. The attendant was the pretty young woman from his first visit, and she stared in stunned disbelief as she processed his application to use a Meditation Chamber.

The deposit was one Low-Grade Magic Stone. The usage time was five hours, and the fee was one-fifth of a Low-Grade Magic Stone.

Dago was quite taken aback by the Meditation Chamber's fee. It was extremely expensive. He truly missed the days when he could cast wizardry freely and without restraint in the shelter.

Upon entering the Meditation Chamber, he found that the room was constructed entirely of stone, its four walls built from bluish-gray granite.

One of the stone walls was covered in pits of varying depths, marks left behind by Apprentice Wizards casting spells.

The floor was covered with a half-foot-thick layer of burlap padding. At its center was a hexagonal Rune Array, with a fist-sized "Elemental Crystal" embedded in its core. The crystal's color changed according to the elements in the surroundings.

When fire elements filled the air, it turned crimson. When ice elements were active, it glowed a faint blue.

No extraneous sounds could be heard in the entire room because Sound-Absorbing Rune Arrays surrounded it.

The pockmarked stone wall contained an Energy-Absorbing Rune Array, allowing it to be used for spell bombardment experiments.

Dago activated Mental Sight and sensed a "buzzing" permeating the air. It was the resonance produced by colliding elements.

The main skills he practiced in the Meditation Chamber were the Meditation Method, Detection Technique, and Resonance Art. He did not dare use his other combat skills.

He was mainly afraid of blowing up the rune wall. Even selling himself would not be enough to compensate for it.

Dago summoned the system panel and brought up the progress values for those three skills.

[Universal Wizard Meditation Method (Metamorphosis 1310/10000); Resonance Art (Metamorphosis 80/10000); Detection Technique (Metamorphosis 57/10000)]

There was no need to mention the Meditation Method. It was a necessary daily practice.

As it improved, the range his mental power could reach had expanded to five meters, while the time needed to expel Soul Entropy had dropped to five minutes.

After his mental power was depleted, he could also slowly transform Mental Mist to replenish it. His mana recovery had improved.

The ice elements currently retained by Resonance Art could already cover both his arms and his chest.

Moreover, he discovered that after Resonance Art advanced into the Metamorphosis Phase, it was actually improving his physique.

His body, which had long coexisted with ice elements, had received an extremely minute amount of radiation from elemental power.

In essence, this was a wizardly evil art that worked from the outside inward. Once practiced deeply enough, it would cause the physical body to rot away.

To put it plainly, the human body could not bear elemental power unless one possessed the bloodline of an ancient species.

"Could I have the talent to become one of those legendary, one-in-ten-thousand Bloodline Wizards?"

Dago happily indulged in the thought.

The improvement of Detection Technique was equally obvious. It could now detect a fan-shaped area forty meters in front of him.

It also provided basic information about wizardry within that range. That miraculous change was probably bestowed by the system.

As the Elemental Crystal in the center of the room flashed with faint blue light, Dago entered his training mode as well.

That afternoon, after finishing his training in the Meditation Chamber and settling the usage fee, Dago walked back to the Wizard Inn.

The moment he stepped through the inn's doors, Dago saw Selena and old Mariko sitting in the empty tea room, drinking Mind-Clearing Tea.

According to what Dago knew, it was a miraculous plant imported by the Wizarding Alliance from the distant east. It was also tea, something he was familiar with.

It refreshed the mind and sharpened the senses, earning it the nickname of a lesser Mental Potion. Unfortunately, it was somewhat expensive.

The two were chatting with smiles on their faces. When they saw Dago, they immediately invited him to join them.

Old Mariko looked at Dago's long hair and said with a mischievous grin, "Kid Dago, your hair is already pretty long. Our little Selena happens to be quite good at cutting hair. How about it? Interested in getting a haircut in the courtyard?"

Selena's face quickly reddened at his words, but she did not refuse. She merely kept sneaking glances at Dago's expression.

Dago looked at his long hair, which had already fallen past his shoulders, and nodded. Yes, it had been nearly two months since he had last cut his own hair with a dagger in the shelter.

When Dago agreed, Selena's face blossomed into a smile, and she hurried upstairs to fetch iron scissors and a burlap cape.

A few minutes later, Dago sat on a wooden chair with only his head exposed beneath the burlap cape while Selena gently yet deftly cut away his long black hair.

She made almost no sound as she cut his hair. Dago could only hear the soft rustling of severed strands falling down.

Old Mariko stood nearby, watching with a smile. "Evan and his wife said they want to treat the three of us to dinner, to thank us for taking care of them during our time in the Patrol Guard."

Dago searched his memories. Evan and his wife were the couple who had left the group after Gavin's death, saying they would move into town to join relatives.

"Of course. I also miss the days we spent in the Patrol Guard," Dago said without turning his head.

It seemed old Mariko had run into quite a few old friends during this period.

In truth, Dago understood very well the difficult circumstances faced by the wizards living in the forest.

After moving into town, most of them would struggle to adapt. It was like free birds of the sky suddenly being locked in cages.

The Apprentice Wizards who chose to live in the forest were originally those without much in the way of useful skills, making it difficult for them to live well in town.

More importantly, they had no Magic Stones. With the town's current outrageous cost of living, even Apprentice Wizards with some savings would find it difficult to survive. Their savings would soon be exhausted.

As Dago was lost in thought, he sensed Selena stop moving.

She removed the cape from his body, her cheeks flushed as she indicated that she had finished.

Then, as if performing a magic trick, she produced a silver mirror from behind her back and held it before Dago.

In the mirror, the eighteen-year-old Dago looked like a young pine kissed by morning sunlight. His brow bones were sharp as if carved by a blade, and faint shadows unique to youth rested in his deep-set eyes.

Combined with his freshly trimmed crew cut, he possessed a handsome air that mixed youthful immaturity with sharpness.

He smiled at Selena. "Your skills are excellent. I feel like you could open a shop in town."

Having received Dago's approval, Selena could not help saying happily, "Thank you for the praise, Captain Dago."

Dago got up and returned to his room to wash away the loose hairs. Using a small amount of mental power to compress the air, he made a little hair dryer to dry his hair.

Once he finished all that, he went downstairs to meet up with the other two, ready to attend Evan and his wife's dinner invitation.